Finding Shizuru
by kae011
Summary: After the carnival, Shizuru was summoned back to Kyoto. With Shizuru's absence, Natsuki realized that she's also in love with her best friend. She gathered all her courage to confess but, a new disaster will hinder her plan. The dead came back to life and brought disaster all over the country. With the roads block, communications down, will Natsuki find Shizuru? Or was it too late?


**Disclaimer:** Mai-hime belongs to Sunrise.

**A/N: **Hello everyone, this is my first story. This story has been in my head for quite a long time now and I only got the courage to post it now. This is also my first time writing a story so I hope I don't disappoint you. Please review and let me know if this story is worth continuing. This story is inspired by H.O.T.D. and Finding Nemo.

**Warning: **Character death. Which one's already dead, which one's going to die... I don't know yet. But it's a zombie story therefore, someone is definitely going to die or already dead.

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**CHAPTER 1 - Rise of the Dead**

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_The world was always betraying me. I had always lived thinking that. What I had inside me was revenge to those who snatched everything away from me. That was the only reason I had left to live._

___I didn't know it, but I had been like a sharpened knife. _But before I knew it, you guys were around me. _Shizuru was there, _Mai was there, Mikoto was there, and then, the smiling was there. 

_Shizuru... the feelings you had for me... _

_Back then... I was not able to realized that I had the same love as you are... _

_Now... it might be too late. However... I will never give up... _

_As long as I'm alive... I will never ever give up..._

_So wait for me... Shizuru..._

_I promise... I'll find you..._

**BANG!** A bullet pierced between the eye of a dead walking corpse. The dessert eagle that fired the shot was so high powered that the bullet pierced through into two more corpses.

A gloved hand pointed the gun to the right and a single bullet caused the 'walker' as they were called, to stumble upon the floor tripping a few more walking corpses down.

**BANG! BANG!** A few more shots was made as the shooter jumped backwards where there were no signs of the walker.

**BANG! CLICK! CLICK!** A lone bullet escaped the gun and two clicks means that the gun ran out of ammo. "Shit!" The figure proceed to ran towards the closed gate while holstering her gun. She bent her knees and use her legs to jump over the gate. "Fuck!" The figure said as she secured the gate behind her leaving the walkers to reach from the outside. _If I still have my HIME power, then I will surely not ran out of bullets and have Duran blast them all. _Had this apocalypse happened a few months back, during the carnival, then definitely, she will not be placed in a pinched like this. She can have a gigantic Duran blow or freeze every one of those walkers. Specially now that her love for her most precious someone has grown deeper. _And I can also ride on his back towards Shizuru. Damn! Damn! Damn it all!_

The lone figure panted as she caught with her breath. Her free hand was supporting her chest as she looked around for walkers inside the gate. Her skinny denim jean was ripped and dirty. Her boots were full of blood and brain matter. Her jacket and inside top were also covered in blood. She was carrying a medium sized back pack that contains basic survival kit. A single knife was holstered in her right boot. Ammunitions were clipped into her waist as well as two dessert eagles. And last but not the least, a sword was placed on her back.

She squinted when a hand managed to grabbed her midnight blue hair, using her knife, she pivoted to her right and thrust using all of her strength towards the walker's head. She walked towards the house and observed her surroundings. She drew her sword as she walked closer to the house. Gently and slowly, she opened the door and stepped inside.

Nothing. Not a sign of life or dead. The house was small and so she can clearly concluded that there's no walker in the first floor. The family that used to live there must have abandoned their home to seek safety but she knew that chances of survival were low.

**Thud!**

She spun to her left towards the direction of the sound, ready to strike, but stopped when she saw the cause of the noise.

**Meow!**

A white with orange stripe cat must jumped from somewhere towards the side table causing the small vase to fall. If she wasn't alert enough, she might have sliced the poor cat in half. "Shhh!"

She roamed around the house and secured the back door. She pushed a table and placed a chair over the table for added resistance. She then walked back towards the main door and locked it. This time, the couch was used in order block the door. Her emerald eyes peeked from the window to observe the condition outside. She sighed as she watched those living dead surround the house. With tough luck, the gate will be able to hold it's place until those walkers become distracted with something else.

Now done securing the first floor, she proceed to check the second floor. Her gripped to her sword tightened as she slowly took little steps up the wooden stairs. Her breathing was slow as her heart beats faster than normal. _This is not good. _She can't explain it but as she journeyed towards the second floor, she got this scary feeling that she wasn't alone.

As she reached the final step, she saw that there were only three doors. One of them must have been the master's bedroom, two for children and the other was for the bathroom. _Great! Not much to check. _

She walked towards the first door to the left and read the plates outside. 'Yumi'. It was written in a wood that hung in the door. She slowly opened the door and was relieved to see it empty. _Good! three doors to go._

She proceed to walk towards the opposite door, she released the breath that she didn't know she was holding upon finding the room empty. However, there's another door inside the room. _Must have been the bathroom. _She closed the master's bed room's door and proceed to check the bathroom. She sighed as she find it empty.

As she was about to exit the bedroom, she noticed that clothes were scattered to the floor. She remembered that the first room that she checked was in the same state. _They must have really tried to evacuate towards a safer place. _

Now, she proceed to check the door at the farthest and confirmed that it was indeed a bathroom. She closed it and proceed to check the last door. Her heart starts beating faster and the hairs at the back of her neck screamed danger. She leaned towards the door and heard scratches from the other side. "Fuck!" _Something is there!._

She took a deep breath and positioned herself in a fighting stance, ready to attack. _If there were only one or two of them, then I can handle, but more, I don't know. _She swallowed a big lump in her throat as she proceed to open the door. _Here goes nothing!_

**Meow!**

Another cat, this time a pure grey one, suddenly jumped into her. She was ready to attack anything that walked with two feet but was not ready to confront a feline. She stumbled backwards, lost her footing and a loud 'thud' echoed the hallway.

**Grrrrr!** The feline that landed on her chest showed her fangs and observed it's prey. The cat stared intently towards her emerald orbs while it's ears were erect and forward, twitching it's tail at the same time. The cat hissed as it arched it's back and it's claw began to dug deeply towards her chest. She groaned at the pain but decided to fight the cat using her famous death glare.

And it was a success. The cat slowly relaxed and jumped from her, running towards the first floor. "Phew..." She decided to released her body that was leaning upward towards the cat, and placed a hand towards her head, closing her eyes in the process. _Damn cat! This is why I like dogs better. But can't blame it. It must have been left there and was already very hungry.__  
_

She slowly pushed herself up and closed the last door, making her way back to the master's bedroom. She locked the door behind her and sheathed her sword. Knowing that this place was safe for a while, she placed her back pack and sword to the wall and stretched her aching back. A nice warm bath will surely soothe the pain. She carefully placed all of her weapon on top the table and stripped herself.

Bare feet touched the cold tiled floor as she entered the bathroom and it was a nice one. There's a shower at the right side besides the urinal and a tub on the other side. She opened the faucet and let the water fill the tub. After that, she proceed to the shower. A silver necklace was the only remaining item attached to her body as she let the warm water washed away all the dirt from her tired body.

When she was satisfied that she had cleaned herself enough, she made her way to the tub and buried herself under the warm water. She leaned back a noticed that the roof was transparent. It was already dark outside but the moon and stars brightens the sky as if everything was still normal.

She played with the pendant of her necklace as she let herself to succumb to sleep. But before she completely subdued to tiredness, weariness, exhaustion there's only one word that left her luscious lips. "Shizuru..."

_-Flashback Start-_

After the carnival, everything went back to normal. The seniors managed to graduate despite the appearance of the school. Mashiro and Nagi both returned to the place where they really belonged. Fumi became the headmistress of garderobe, Midori went somewhere around the world with her professor. Akira accompanied Takumi to US in order to have a surgery. Shiho managed to accept that Tate only has feelings for Mai. Mikoto was finally reunited with her Aniue which was Reito. Yukariko was happily married and was already expecting a child. Nao and Alyssa together with Miyu worked at the church. Yukino was appointed by Haruka to become the new executive director. Akane was happy to be with Kazuya again. Mai had accepted Tate's feelings despite Mikoto's protest. Natsuki managed to avoid skipping a year, thanks to Sakomizu and Shizuru who was summoned back to Kyoto by her parents to continue her study and at the same time trained under her parents in preparation for her future.

Shizuru left Fuuka with a heavy heart. She didn't want to leave. Even though she knew that Natsuki's love for her was different from hers, she was satisfied. Natsuki's and everyone's forgiveness filled her heart. It gave her strength to move forward. She was relieved to know that Mashiro also manages to revived the lives that she took from the first district. Even if the building remained ruined, the lives that occupied it was able to be restored.

It was only a few days after Shizuru left when Natsuki felt lonely. Yes, she had new friends... she even managed to hang out with Nao who was now in high school, but still something was wrong. She was missing something or rather someone... Yes she was missing Shizuru... Withour her she realized that her life was incomplete. She promised to herself that she'll gather all her courage to confess to Shizuru and surprise her this coming weekend.

Natsuki was lying under the tree with her eyes closed when Mai came. "You know Natsuki... There's really no reason for you to skip class anymore." It was their favorite spot to eat lunch. Mai was carrying a large picnic basket knowing that Mikoto's appetite became larger.

"I'm not skipping Mai. Yuko-sensei called in sick and there's no substitute, we were told to study by ourselves." Natsuki replied, opening her eyes and proceed to sit.

"Mai! Natsuki!" Both girls turned their gaze at the direction of the sound. It was Mikoto, followed by Nao. The two of them was placed in the same classroom unlike Mai and Natsuki who was again in different classes.

"Oi!" Mai waved at the duo while Natsuki yawned. And as always, Mikoto sprinted towards Mai and landed on her big chest. This act always made Tate jealous, good thing he needed to practice Kendo for the upcoming tournament. With Takeda gone, who went to Tokyo University due to the fact that Natsuki rejected his feelings and convinced himself that distance will help him recover, Tate became the new captain of the Kendo club.

The four of them were enjoying Mai's cooking where suddenly the ground shook. The tremor was so strong that they spilled their food. "What the hell?" Natsuki growled when her mayo sandwich hit the ground. "An earthquake?"

"Seems so..." Mai replied. "It was so strong!"

"No it's not." Mikoto disputed. "I felt it... it's like some explosion from the underground." Mikoto, who lived in the mountains most of her life before entering Fukka has sense better than normal people.

They looked around and everyone seems to be shocked by the incident. Mikoto then climbed the tree and observed the environment. "I don't see any smoke anywhere." She said then went back.

"It's probably a drill of something." Mai said. "Let's finish our food. Lunch's almost over." She added.

_Mai's right... it's probably nothing... but why am I having this crazy feeling? _Natsuki though. She looked at Mikoto and she can tell that the feline girl's face was full of worry. Not only that, but Nao was also giving an anxious look.

Little did they know that this was going to be their last lunch together...

_-Flashback end-_

**Crash**

The sound of a broken glass woke Natsuki up. She wrapped herself in a towel and took both her gun from the table. Then another sound of a breaking glass was heard. But since she's already awake, she knew that the sound came from the outside. Using the edge of her gun she took a peek from the window and saw a group of walkers making their way to the house across. What lured the walkers to that house, she doesn't care. If there were any survivors out there, she doesn't care. Releasing back the curtain, she sighed as she placed her gun back to the table and began to search for new sets of clothes, hoping that something will fit.

Luckily, the lady of the house was somewhat same built as her. She wore a skinny dark blue pants and a black t-shirt. She also took some extra shirt and placed it near her bag to be packed later. A nice change of clothes will compensate for lack of bath. She holstered her knife, gun and ammunitions back to her body and journeyed her way to the kitchen. She was famished. She has not eaten since morning, where she only had a piece of bread. With today's situation, eating has become a luxury.

Knowing that she was still safely barricaded inside the house, she went downstairs and saw the two cats sleeping with each other. She took a not to leave them little food. Opening, the fridge, she was delighted to see that it wasn't empty. In fact there's a large variety to choose from. The lady of the house must have gone grocery shopping before this thing happened. She opened the freezer and took a frozen hotdogs. She also took some eggs from the fridge, however, she frowned when she didn't find her favorite food... mayo.

Too bad the bread in the table already got a lot of molds. Hey, it has been already more that a week since this pandemic happened, so it can't be helped. Natsuki sighed as she went to find something else. Her frown was replaced by smile when she saw the cupboard full of cup noodles. She took one and proceed to prepare her dinner. _For surviving alone... this long, I need to pamper myself for today. Who knows I might die tomorrow. _And it hit her. _Shit! I can't be thinking of dying! I need to find her... but what if... _She shook herself to removed the image of zombie Shizuru in her mind. A lone tear fell from her emerald orbs when she saw a box of green tea by the kitchen counter. It was Shizuru's favorite._  
_

Was she really too late? She don't know. Natsuki proceed to eat her dinner because she will be needing all her strength in order to survive another day.

**TBC**


End file.
